My Friend, Eliza
I have a dear friend, Eliza. She has a way of popping in on us from time to time — usually staying for a few days. She is unpredictable and hilarious. She loves my boys and is one of those friends who is a thoughtful, mostly gentle truth-speaker. For instance, the last time she was here, she told me, “Look, Annie, I think that you’ve come to that age when you kind of need to wear mascara and maybe some lip gloss or something.” She said it with a smile and I knew that she meant it with love. She means well. And, I agree with her about the make up, sort of.

Anyway, she came last night. After we put the boys to bed, she watched a Battlestar Galactica with Jon and me and then she and I stayed up even later to watch Pride and Prejudice and to talk about French cooking and swap recipes.

This morning, she insisted on making breakfast. Which I let her do — she is a great cook. All was going well until I heard a yell from the kitchen. She had added chili powder instead of cinnamon to the French toast that she was making. She laughed it off and she started over — she told me that she was going to make a mental note to drink more coffee before attempting to make breakfast on that little sleep. So, she made the toast again and it was great. (She told me about another French toast recipe with almonds, strawberries and Grand Marnier. Can’t wait to try that one.)

As it was a school morning, we were bustling around getting the boys ready for school when we heard the 8 year old shouting from the kitchen. He thought that the dog was eating a plastic bag…turns out the dog had gotten a stick of butter off the counter and had eaten the whole thing. Now, you may have picked up on the fact that I am not the biggest fan of this dog right now. I’ve made the resolution not to yell at him….of course, I have been yelling, because he doesn’t care what we want anymore and is always getting into things and making huge messes. Eliza knows how I feel about the dog. She shares my feelings, apparently because, his doing that just set her off. The 8 year old had quickly taken the dog outside to get him out of the way (and maybe so the dog wouldn’t hear me talking about how I’d like him to hasten his death) but Eliza wasn’t done with the dog yet. She jerked the kitchen window open and started yelling at the dog…”You terrible dog…if you have the nerve to come in here and make a mess because you ate that butter you will be in the deepest dook of your life!!” (Keep in mind, dear readers, that this was at the top of her lungs and it was not yet 8 a.m. I truly hope that the neighbors didn’t hear. I’m just glad that she censored herself a little bit — the boys could hear, afterall.) Then she slammed the window shut and, immediately, realizing the hilarity of the whole scene, she was seized by a fit of the giggles and threw herself down on my bed and laughed and laughed. She couldn’t breathe, she was laughing so hard. She is so crazy. And I must say, my neighbor’s opinions aside, that I really like having her occasionally come to visit. She is a breath of fresh air for me — we all need a little crazy in our lives, don’t we?

I wonder how many mothers drop their children off at school and ask them not to tell all their classmates about “Mama’s crazy friend”. However many do that….I was one of them today.

We did a lot of other things today, including a library and Aldi run. Eliza makes a great vegetarian chili and she wanted to make some for lunch. So we went to get supplies and came back home. We ate the chili over brown rice today and it was really filling and yummy. She says that she makes it differently every time — but here is recipe she used today.

Eliza’s Veggie Chili
2 medium onions, diced
1 (or 2) red, yellow, or orange bell peppers, chopped
olive oil
1-2 T. chili powder
1-1 1/2 T. cumin
1 can red beans, drained and rinsed
1 can chili beans
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 – 15 oz. cans diced tomatoes with the juice
3 – 8 oz. cans tomato sauce

How she says to make it: Heat a pan over medium heat. Put a few glugs oil in the pan. When it is warm, add the diced peppers and onions. Cook them until they are kind of soft, stirring occasionally. (She cooked them for like 8-10 min.) Open all the cans of tomato stuff and drain and rinse the red and black beans and set them aside so that they will be ready. Add the chili powder and cumin (she says that she usually adds minced garlic here, but Aldi was out today) and cook for 30 seconds, stirring the whole time. Immediately add the tomato sauce and tomatoes with the juice. Stir. Add the beans and stir some more. Lower the heat and stir occasionally until it is to the thickness you desire. (We waited until the brown rice we were cooking to go with it was done.) Serve over rice, or not. Sour cream or cheese and corn chips are nice on the top.

I wonder what she’ll make for us tomorrow?